How to pronounce Lech Walesa

[NewHope]

Lech Walesa, former Poland President. How to pronounce Lech Walesa in English?

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by NewHope

Lech Walesa, former Poland President. How to pronounce Lech Walesa in English?

Well, it wouldn't be in English, it would be in Polish .

I think it's pronounced Lek Vallessa, but perhaps there is a Polish reader who could help?

[Ouisch]

My dad speaks some Polish, and when he pronouces "Lech" he sounds like a cat trying to bring up a hairball, so I can't begin to figure out how to type it phonetically.

In the US, the newscasters usually pronounce it "Leck Wal-LAY-sah", but I'm sure that's no where close to the way Mr. Walesa says it.

[Tdol]

I have heard 'Vawessa' as well as 'Walaysah' in the UK, but I have no idea whether it's right or not.

[I.E. Lester]

The "CH" at the end of his first name is similar to the "CH" in German - a kind of a soft "K" sound with a strong hiss - also similar to the Scottish word "Loch"

The "W" at the start of his surname is pronounced as a "V"

The third letter in his surname is a diacritic character - a "l" with a slash through it. It's pronounced like a "W" in English.

So I would guess the best guide would be

le-H VAWessa

At least that's my understanding...

[BobK]

Originally Posted by I.E. Lester

...

The third letter in his surname is a diacritic character - a "l" with a slash through it. It's pronounced like a "W" in English.?

...

If by 'like' you mean 'not dissimilarly, using the phonemic resources of English'...

b

[Soup]

Originally Posted by NewHope

Lech Walesa, former Poland President. How to pronounce Lech Walesa in English?

I've heard: leck, as in check, and va-len-sa.

[engee30]

If you want to sound Polish-like, you should pronounce the name as follows:

Le(h) = (like the 'h' in how)
Va'(wh) = (like the 'wh' in what) ensa

Otherwise, try the following:

Le(ck) Va'lensa (the easiest to say, I guess ).

I'm Polish by birth, nationality, origin, and so on...

The punctuation mark ' means the primary stress.

[nyggus]

Originally Posted by Soup

I've heard: leck, as in check, and va-len-sa.

Yes, listen to engee30. As a Pole, I might have problems with understanding "leck" as "lech". This reminds me how much time it takes to learn English pronunciation. Though they say Polish pronunciation is hard, and I met many non-Poles who claimed Polish sounds not nice, kind of rustling. Sounds fine for me (Polish, I mean)!

[kpira]

Well,
Lech Wałęsa: lek (or as in Polish lex) va:'wents (English Pronouncing Dictionary, Daniel Jones 17 th Edition)